English Translation

10 A telephone report by Ernst Eggers dated 18 December 1939 shows that Philipp Reemtsma was outraged at the delays in the sale; Egger attributed this to Erich Gritzbach's not precise telegram. On the same day Josef Bürckel distanced himself from the report addressed to Hans Heinrich Lammers by Friedrich Plattner and Gottfried Hohenauer and asked Hans Heinrich Lambmers to telegraphically regard this report as "not to be reported, since I cannot under any circumstances accept such a contradiction against a measure taken by the general field marshal [note: Hermann Göring] by a department subordinate to me. On December 15, 1939, Robert Hiecke of the Berlin Reich Ministry of Education told the history of the Czernin Gallery and that the rumors that figurative paintings were to be removed from Vienna "have caused great indignation, which is why Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg had already seen himself forced to refuse a sale and export permit. Hans Heinrich Lammers noted on 20 December 1939 that Robert Hiecke and Johann Heinrich Dähnhardt, also from the Reich Ministry of Education, were on the point of view that the (Vienna) Ministry of Internal and Cultural Affairs "must be supported in every respect." However, since Josef Bürckel did not tolerate objections from subordinate departments against a measure taken by Hermann Göring, Hans Heinrich Lammers saw from a lecture on the matter to Adolf Hitler and informed the Reichsminister für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung, Bernhard Rust, and Josef Bürcke. In December 1939, Friedrich Plattner stated that Josef Bürckel had told him that a wish expressed by Hermann Göring "had a character of command" and that a delay in the sale was only justified if Hermann Gö Ring was prompted by Bernhard Rust to a different point of view. Friedrich Plattner therefore ordered "in confirmation of my already telephonic order", Herbert Seiberl, to exclude the actual painting in accordance with §§ 3 and 6 DMSG from the "managed under-protection of Count Czernin-sche Gemäldegalerie", and to grant permission for his transfer to Hamburg to Philipp Reemtsma pursuant to § 4 of the German Export Prohibition Act. Herbert Seiberl wrote a letter to the Fideikomiss Court. However, both the written instructions to Herbert Seibertl and the draft letter from Herbert SeiBERl to the Videikomiss Court were crossed out and a note from the file dated 21 January 2011 was filed. In December 1939, it was found that after a telephone instruction